Genetic diversity of swimming crab (Portunus trituberculatus) populations from Shandong peninsula as assessed by microsatellite markers

Eight microsatellite loci were performed in order to evaluate the genetic variability of wild and hatchery samples of swimming crab Portunus trituberculatus from Shandong peninsula. A group of 180 genotypes belonging to five wild samples, DY, WF, WH, QD, RZ and one hatchery population, YT were screened. The number of alleles per locus ranged from 2.5 to 6.5. The average of observed and expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.71 to 0.83, and from0.66 to 0.77, respectively. The effective number of alleles varied from 1.34 for Ptri3 to 4.5 for Ptri10. The number of genotypes ranged from 2.8 for Ptri3 to 12.3 for Ptri10. Compared with the wild populations, the hatchery population, YT, showed significant genetic changes such as fewer alleles per locus, a smaller number of low frequency alleles, a small number of unique alleles and a small number of genotypes, all indicative of a reduction in genetic diversity. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.